“It is not always obvious when the government has acted with a retaliatory purpose in violation of the First Amendment, ‘But this wolf comes as a wolf.’” Those words from NPR and three member stations in a sweeping federal lawsuit against President Donald Trump.
That line, referencing Justice Antonin Scalia’s famous dissent in Morrison v. Olson, sets the tone for the lawsuit, which accuses the Trump administration of a goal to “Punish NPR for the content of news and other programming the President dislikes and chill the free exercise of First Amendment rights by NPR and individual public radio stations across the country.”
Filed on May 27 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the lawsuit targets Executive Order 14290, titled Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media. The order instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and all federal agencies to “cease funding” NPR and PBS based on the administration’s belief that the networks promote “partisan news coverage.”
The plaintiffs, NPR, Aspen Public Radio, Colorado Public Radio, and KSUT Public Radio, describe the order as unconstitutional, retaliatory, and a clear violation of the First Amendment and the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. In their filing, the stations accuse the Trump administration of attempting to defund and dismantle a public radio system that reaches 99% of Americans.
According to the complaint, the executive order disregards five decades of bipartisan congressional support for public broadcasting and violates statutory provisions that explicitly shield entities like NPR from federal interference. It also challenges Trump’s attempt to block not just direct funding but indirect funding by forbidding local public stations from using federal grants to license NPR or PBS programming.
The lawsuit comes just weeks after the administration attempted to remove three board members from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, an act CPB leadership says undermines the agency’s independence. The administration has also reportedly pressured CPB to cancel a nearly $36 million grant that supports the Public Radio Satellite System, a national emergency broadcast infrastructure operated by NPR.
The complaint outlines a direct timeline of hostile actions by Trump and his administration in the months leading up to the order. These include repeated social media posts urging Republicans to “defund” NPR and PBS, a White House press release declaring “THE NPR, PBS GRIFT HAS RIPPED US OFF FOR TOO LONG,” and a “Fact Sheet” accusing NPR of spreading “left-wing propaganda.”
Public radio leaders say the order not only targets NPR but also punishes hundreds of local stations across the country that rely on NPR programming and infrastructure. Aspen Public Radio, for example, broadcasts 92 hours per week of NPR programming. KSUT, which serves tribal and rural communities in the Four Corners region, is the only source of free public radio in a 27,000-square-mile coverage area.
The lawsuit also raises due process concerns, arguing the administration moved to revoke funding without warning or a fair opportunity to respond.
The plaintiffs seek to have the executive order declared unconstitutional, to block federal agencies from enforcing it, and to prohibit further efforts to strip NPR or PBS of funding based on political content.
Perhaps we should put this to a national vote, Afterall it’s the taxpayer’s money.
The government funding problem would be solved easily only if NPR and PBS were to actually perform real journalism and report all sides of a story and not focus on alleged “progressive” ideology and propaganda. Just do as Edward R. Murrow would’ve….give both sides of any story and leave out the editorializing. And if you do host opinion programming, then allow for all sides to be legitimately heard. It’s that simple.
What an uninformed statement. NPR absolutely provides unbiased reporting. The problem is this particular president does not like to be challenged in any way. He continues to abuse his power and when his many, many failures and abuses are discussed, he takes it as an attack. Let’s start stripping all those churches of their non profit status if this is truly about government not supporting political influence. Cry babies and hypocrites.
If by unbiased reporting you mean only reporting what you want to hear, then you are correct, but a lot of people don’t see it your way……so therefore we’re wrong.
Sounds like the pot calling the kettle black. For all of you screaming about the second amendment, it’s fascinating how quickly you disregard the first one.
Sounds like you want a fairness doctrine. That was ruled unconstitutional and repealed 40 years ago.
Nice try, NPR. But no, there’s nothing in the constitution that says you have to be funded.
There’s also nothing in the constitution that gives the president power over funding. That’s up to congress, and in March, congress has funded CPB thru 2027.
NPR and PBS are no longer relevant to the learning and informational needs of the poor and underprivileged. Thankfully, most of the economically challenged children now have laptops or tablets in schools. They definitely are not tuning into an NPR radio station or a PBS tv channel after school.
The vast majority of taxpayers do not listen to or benefit from NPR or PBS. So there is zero justification now for taxpayer dollars to be subsidizing those entities.
So NPR is admitting that they can’t get enough private support and that they must have government funding? The first amendment argument is weak since all the stations could keep doing exactly what they are now, providing they could generate additional private support. No one is forcing them off the air.
You should read the text of the lawsuit. There’s more to it than what you’ve written. It’s more than the first amendment.
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